A Ray of Hope
by Lmxar
Summary: This story will focus on Shepard's life. How he joined the Alliance, his life during and between the Mass Effect Games, and his relationship with his crew mates. Shepard will romance Tali in the ME2 story arc, and I will try to stick to BW canon.


"Jonathon Travis Shepard, sir."

"Shepard?" the recruiter began, "I didn't think you were 18… Even if you are, you do understand that you could make a good bit of money in the private sector? Alliance pay for tech experts doesn't exactly compete with what companies can pay someone with your… ah… tech abilities. Hell, you tested your way through a four year degree four years early; completely on your own. Why not get a doctorate? Two, even?"

Shepard stood slightly straighter, hiding his annoyance and attempting to look more professional.

"I have thought about it, sir. It is just that I have always wanted to serve in the Alliance. Today is my 18th birthday. I came to you so that I could explore my options." Shepard lied quite easily. He didn't give a damn about the money he could get for sitting in the same room doing pointless work five days a week. He cared even less about a sheet of paper that claimed he knew what the hell he was talking about. The thought of having to sit through years of classrooms for something so mundane when he could probably teach himself just as well in less than half the time grated on him. _Why the HELL would I want to do that? And why is this guy being so hesitant to let me sign the sheet of paper every kid on this station signs? _After all, everybody knew what happened to kids that grow up on military bases. Shepard's eyes cut into man, demanding an answer to the unasked questions.

The first lieutenant looked through his window at the stars outside of Arcturus Station and sighed. He knew that Shepard's position was very unique. Shepard lived in the very small dormitory that housed the children of Alliance officers stationed around Arcturus Station with nowhere else to go. The Alliance was even kind enough to "provide an education" for these children and young adults. He snorted at the thought. Make them watch educational vids for eight hours a day, _four_ times a week. Take a test every half year. Screen for biotic potential yearly. Take a physical exam monthly. Everybody that was not brain dead and physically debilitated in some way was "encouraged" to enlist in various marine divisions. The alliance wrote off these kids simply because they didn't feel like hiring a full time professor or two for the 294 civilian residents under the age of 18. That, and they needed bullet fodder apparently. The future of each and every one of these kids was hopeless… Well, all but Shepard. Shepard was a self-taught technology expert. His mother, Hannah Shepard, was a well-known and respected engineer aboard the SSV _Einstein_ known for her… dedication to the Alliance_._ But that wasn't really any help to John; Hannah spent maybe one month a year with her son. Shepard had easily scored in the top percentile on technological based tests he was required to take for his "classes," and he had been frequently seen in one of the gyms present on the station. And he did this entirely on his own. This was the kind of recruit that most men in his position salivated for. Shaking his head, the First Lieutenant knew that he should be jumping at the offer… but he was hesitant. He was an intelligent man, and knew that something was amiss.

"Have you discussed this with your mother?"

"In a way, I have, sir. She knows that I have always wanted to serve in the Alliance. She isn't around enough to be able to have a conversation."

"When does the _Einstein_ return to the station?" The lieutenant already knew the answer, but was curious as to how John would respond.

_Damn. He knows more than I thought. May as well be partially honest now. _Shepard looked away from the recruiter as he replied. "Tomorrow."

"Do you not want to wait for your mother to return to talk to her about your decision?" the recruiter asked, looking at the young man over steepled fingers.

Shepard looked at the man in front of him. His question ignited emotions John had hidden for his entire life. Shepard's eyes blazed with anger, putting emphasis on the first word in his response. "**No**. She will probably be "too busy" to talk. I want to do this today, sir. If need be, I will sign up on the extranet. The next data burst goes out in seven minutes, and I have everything filled out. If I miss this burst for some reason, I can catch the next one without a problem."

The First Lieutenant looked at the young man in front of him. He knew that John Shepard would go far in the Alliance. Shepard was everything the Alliance wanted in a soldier, a tech expert, and more importantly, a combat leader. Nodding, he reached into his desk for a stack of papers he had never touched. Fetching a pen from the center desk drawer, the recruiter began to fill out an overly elaborate and official looking document. He still had reservations, but it was clear that the kid wasn't giving up. He wasn't either though. The recruiter did not want to be on Hannah Shepard's shit list, so he tried one last evasion tactic.

"Well, I wouldn't do this for any other 18 year old I know of, but I will give you the opportunity to take a few placement tests to walk in with a commission."

Shepard looked up, surprised. "Thank you, sir. That would be great."

The recruiter looked over his page, hoping that Shepard would take his leave. John stood exactly how he had been for the past ten minutes on the opposite side of the desk.

"We can set you up to take the tests in the next couple of days."

"Sir, I would like to take these tests now. I know that the tech test is very easy to administer. I took the physical fitness test in the gym yesterday with several other Marines." John produced a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on the desk. "I had two of the officers there sign off on my physical fitness evaluation. I understand that you want me to leave and talk to my mother before I fully commit, but I am ready to move on with my life. Independently." John stressed the last word.

The First Lieutenant rubbed his temples thoughtfully, pondering his options. Slowly, he reached out and took the physical evaluation from his desk. All categories tested were rated as either "Excellent" or "Outstanding," the two highest results. _Dammit._ The signatures of the two officer witnesses filled the requirements of entry physical exams. John had even used the official document and an official physical testing day! There was no way he could keep this kid away. He shook his head and looked up at John. Shepard knew he had won, knew that all of the planning and careful hacking he had done in the past month had flawlessly come together. He had checkmated this lieutenant, and both knew it.

"The score you received on your run wasn't bad, but I have seen better. But let's see how you do on that tech exam…" He knew exactly how John would do on the tech exam, and he could guess why… but he couldn't prove anything.

Twenty minutes later, John handed his answer sheet to the recruiter's secretary (who had been looking over his shoulder during the exam to prevent any cheating), careful to conceal a grin. The test was trivial, but even more so after hacking the Alliance's (relatively) weak encryption used for relatively unimportant documents with low levels of classification. Unimportant documents such as tech placement exams and their answer keys. The secretary breezed through the grading, and was surprised when he reached the end of the exam without finding an error. Rechecking his work, the private first class shook his head and recorded the results in his terminal, handed them to the first lieutenant, and walked out of the room. The recruiter glanced at the results and nodded.

"Ok John, well I just need to fill out some paperwork… I can guess what you did, and I know that you know that I can't prove anything." John smiled. The recruiter turned his personal terminal back on and typed into it for a few minutes. The recruiter waited for a moment and nodded at his terminal. "I just had your tech and physical scores processed. If you were any other kid on this station you would have to sit through an interview with a selection board to even have a chance at being offered an accelerated commission. I waived that, since I don't want you compromising our systems further to try to expedite the process. Here are your orders. Looks like you managed to squeeze into an Officer's Entry Training class that starts in a few days. I will go ahead and transfer everything to your omni-tool."

Shepard checked his omni-tool quickly and saw that he had a new message. He opened it and read.

_Jonathon Travis Shepard,_

_You are hereby assigned to Quantico Station (Earth, Sol system, United States of America) to undergo Officer's Entry Training (OET). OET will last for 16 weeks, and you will obtain specialized training in the last two weeks of the program should you get that far. Please do not bring any material possessions with you. Everything that you will need will be provided for you. Candidates which possess biotic implants will be required to surrender them for the first 8 weeks of the program. They will be returned upon either being removed from OET, dropping out of OET, or upon the successful completion of the first half of OET. Thank you for your desire to serve humanity!_

_Sincerely,_

_Rear Admiral Richard Jackson, Systems Alliance Training Command_

_RECEIVED: Time: 1647- Date: April 11, 2172-MESSAGE WAS FORWARDED FROM 1__st__ LT GREGORY BAKER_

_TRANSPORTATION NOTICE: The OET class which you will participate in will begin on April 19, 2172. Your current destination is listed as ARCTURUS STATION. A shuttle will be departing from your destination's standard transportation docking bay at 0400 on April 13, 2172. Failure to appear on time will result in immediate disciplinary action and/or termination from any current position in the Systems Alliance._

John quickly re-read the message and put in a command for the printer in his apartment to print two copies. He was all smiles as he looked back at the recruiter and offered his hand to shake across the table. The First Lieutenant took it and shook.

"Thank you so much Lieutenant Baker." He had known the man's name since he first hacked his terminal 27 days ago.

Baker looked at John and sized him up.

"You are a damn good kid, Shepard. Make us proud, and don't forget to tell your mother that I tried to get for you to wait another day. I don't want her to rip my head off," he chuckled. Privately, Baker felt sympathy and pity for John in a way. _Hell of a way to grow up _he thought privately. He quickly shook the thought out of his head and got back to work, reading the profiles of the other civilian inhabitants of the station that were under 18 years old. Baker hated having to learn about each of their personal lives, but he had to in order to be an effective recruiter. He looked at John's profile. The profile seemed to magically erase any changes made to it in the past 27 days, and contained none of the information he had gathered in the past few years on Jonathon Travis Shepard. He laughed as John walked out of the door to his office. _Starting corporate salary? After being able to hack some of the Alliance systems as easily as he could? Five million credits a year, starting. Minimum. Too bad he will never see that kind of money._

How very wrong he was.

Shepard turned around and walked back toward his apartment. _This is the best day in my life_ he kept thinking. Ever since he could remember, John wanted to be an Alliance hero. _Like my dad… and mom too._ _Dad… I wish he could be here to see me now!_ Hannah Shepard had spent the first three years of John's life with him constantly while she was on extended leave. Andrew Shepard (John's father) stayed on patrol most of that time, attempting to explore the galaxy and protect humanity's fledgling colonies from a possible attack. In 2156, 1st Lieutenant Andrew Shepard was assigned to the SSV _Midway_, a small, lightly armed and armored, fast new frigate which was assigned solely to the expansion of the human's relay network and exploration of space.

The next year, when John was three, the SSV _Midway_ went to activate a relay with the other small ships of the exploratory fleet. Unbeknownst to the humans, a Turian patrol fleet spotted the small Alliance vessels attempting to open a forbidden relay and opened fire. The SSV _Midway _was the first Alliance vessel destroyed in the first contact with an alien race in the third full salvo from a Turian cruiser, lost with all hands. _Damned Turians._ John thought to himself, remembering his father's fate. It had taken John until he was a teenager to fully understand what had happened to his father; in 2157 he was far too young to understand the permanent loss of a father figure that was absent more than he was present. The transformation in his mother, however, was almost instantaneous and was extreme. She immediately shrugged off the extended leave she was given when John was born and put her uniform and staff lieutenant bars back on, leaving John in the care of the Alliance. Hannah would double up on deployments per year, and wanted to do everything in her power to bring justice to the ones who had killed her husband.

After the occupation of Shanxi began, Hannah was given a position on the carrier SSV _Einstein_, where she served as the electronic warfare officer. Much to Hannah's dismay, Shanxi was liberated before the _Einstein_ had a chance to enter the fray. Bitter and heartbroken, she decided that keeping busy was the best thing to keep her mind off of her sorrow. Unfortunately for John, what was best for her conscience was not best for her child. The two Shepards moved from station to station, "together," she had told him from the age of 6 through 14, following the SSV _Einstein_'s deployments. Eventually she had stopped lying to him about his abandonment and John simply moved to a new station as she moved. Last year a change in deployment sectors brought them back to Arcturus Station for a third time.

John's mind brought him back to the present when he noticed that he was standing in front of the door to his micro-apartment. He scanned the door's holographic lock with his omni-tool and it opened. Shepard stepped into the cramped living room area he shared with three other boys his age. There was room for a battered checkered pattern couch (all of the legs were broken off and it rested on the floor) that looked older than John was, and a single rolling chair that no longer rolled (two of the five wheels fell off before John had removed the other three out of frustration after toppling over three times one day). The entire living room barely had room for the four occupants to sit at the same time and stretch their legs out; it was about 10 feet deep and 15 feet wide, stretching off to the right. A battered vid player and vid game console sat on a table across from the couch, resembling an ancient TV stand made out of plywood. Nobody was in the common area. He turned left and saw the 10 foot by 10 foot kitchen. Looks like Pete hadn't done his damn dishes again. John sniffed and walked two steps to enter the kitchen. Nobody had taken the trash out either. _Damn. I don't want to deal with this right now_. He simply walked around the corner to his left, as if he had continued straight when he entered his apartment. He walked to the end of the short hall, past the rooms of his suite mates on the right and the first bathroom on the left, and turned left into the second tiny bathroom he shared with one other suitemate. First looking in the mirror, John splashed warm water on his face. _At least I only have to share this bathroom with one other person. And only for the next 36 hours!_ He looked back at his reflection. _I look like hell. _He walked across the bathroom to the other side of the hall. Opening the door to his bedroom, John threw off his shirt and shorts, collapsing onto into his bed. Turning his head, Shepard looked around the room as his door closed. There wasn't much here; just a dresser (tucked under his bed) and a desk with his personal terminal, printer (with printed orders, he was glad to see), clock, and lamp. The clock caught his eye. _Damn. I have been up for 19 hours. Better get some rest so I can see mom's carrier get here in the morning._ He still had mixed feelings about his mother's return. Rolling over onto his back, Shepard pulled the sheet and blanket over his body. Despite running a simulated 5k around the station, having a push up test, a sit up test, a pull up test, and being awake for so long, John couldn't sleep.

_Mom is going to be here in less than 12 hours. I need to sleep! Close your eyes _he commanded himself. Try as he may, sleep did not quickly come for John. He felt the loneliness of the last 15 years of his life creep up on him; his mother's apparent inability to realize that he had needed her. John Travis Shepard, for the first time since his mother's last return a year ago, found himself silently crying. He never sobbed with any noise, but he felt the same crushing hopelessness that he always did the day before his mother returned. Ten minutes later he had managed to steel himself. _She gets back just to ignore my existence. To hell with it; I am an Alliance officer candidate. I don't need her anymore. I have exactly what I have always wanted._ Resolute and out of tears, John closed his eyes and finally faded off to sleep.

John awoke with a start at 0400 to the sound of the alarm on his omni-tool blaring. He had never gotten used to measuring time with the 20 modified hour days that the rest of galactic society had agreed on, and he felt some confusion as to where the hours 2000-2359 went when he thought about it with a sleep-deprived mind. _Oh well, time to get up._ On a second thought, he modified his omni-tool to update all of his current and future appointments' times to standard earth minutes and times. He pulled the sheet and blanket off of him and carefully laid them back across his bed neatly. _Well-made bed; off to a good start._ John rubbed his eyes and walked to the bathroom, grabbing his shaving equipment from the counter. He took a long (for him), hot, shower and emerged from the room 15 (earth) minutes later, clean; with a close shave and a towel wrapped around his waist. After brushing his teeth and getting back into his room, he changed into something much more respectable than he usually wore; a pair of black pants, a black undershirt, black jacket with a tail (embroidered in silver thread with _SSV Midway_ on the left breast), and black shoes. He didn't exactly understand modern fashion, but the last time his mother had spent more than an hour of discretionary time with him, they had purchased this outfit for him. He had hated trying on clothes for hours on end, but he had never complained; savoring every second he had with his mother. Dressed, John walked briskly to docking port 032. It was two miles, but he managed to get there in 30 minutes. He checked his watch. _She is going to be here in an hour and a half. Well, I can wait. _John eagerly sat down on the hard and cold steel floor beside the window. He sat patiently, waiting. After 25 minutes, he began playing on his omni-tool. 90 minutes came and went, and still John sat patiently. He began to worry, but the announcement that the _SSV Einstein _had finally cleared the relay was announced 15 minutes after the expected arrival time. A speck of space shimmered blue as the ship dropped from FTL travel and moved to discharge its element zero core.

An hour later and John saw the crown jewel of the Systems Alliance carrier forces dock. He noticed how stiff his back was for sitting against the steel bulkhead for nearly three hours as he stood. His outfit was wrinkled slightly. _Damn. I spent an hour ironing this thing too._ He quickly tried to press out the two or three small wrinkles present on his outfit. John briskly walked to the hatch that his mother would be walking through shortly. It opened and the crew began spilling out, laughing and joking. Hannah Shepard was nowhere to be found. John walked up the docking tube to the guard at the entrance.

"Hey, could you please page Lieutenant Commander Hannah Shepard?" John asked.

"Sure thing, John." The guard knew the kid in a fashion, because this happened every time the _Einstein _docked. Before long, Hannah appeared at the door, covered in carbon soot. She walked down the docking cradle with John before speaking.

"Hello, John. I have missed you." Hannah appeared to be stiff and uncomfortable at the prospect of meeting her son. John didn't care, and gave her a big hug.

"I missed you too, ma. Can we talk? I have some things that I need to tell you." _NO! Damn it anyways, you told yourself you would confront her this time!_

"I am sorry John. I need to get a couple of more things done. I will be out in an hour though, I promise."

John had mixed emotions. This always happened when Hannah returned to port. She "had something to do," although she usually didn't bother with telling him when she would be done. John knew that she kept her word once promised, so he nodded and walked away from her. He nodded and sat back down against the hard bulkhead, silently fuming. On one hand, he hated his mother, and wished to simply disavow her from his life. She had ignored him and neglected him, and based on her actions did not deserve John's love… but she was his mother. He couldn't bring himself to hate her. As empty as John's life was, he understood that his mother's life was just as empty after losing his father. He decided to wait. Anyways, if it came to it, he had the job he dreamed of, and could simply move on with his life. John checked his omni-tool's clock. _0819, she should be out at 0919._

At 0915, Hannah Shepard stepped out of the _SSV Einstein_'s docking cradle. She loved her son, and hated herself for what she had done… but it was the only way to keep her from destroying herself from within. She quickly approached and embraced John, a tear running from her eye.

"I am sorry."

"It's ok… I am sorry too." She instantly froze when she heard the words. She understood exactly what John meant, but he couldn't have… could he? Without telling her? No. She spoke up with much more confidence than she felt, something she was used to after assuming a major leadership role on the _Einstein._

"Come on John; let's go get some dinner first. Then we can talk about more private things… in private." She trailed off towards the end of her sentence. John smiled, knowing exactly what to say next.

"Ok, let's go to Casa Vallarta!" They both laughed. They always went to Casa Vallarta when on Arcturus station. They also always enjoyed their meal, and this was no exception. Hannah told her son of the mundane deployment. Time spent guarding Eden Prime and the surrounding system, of all places. Like _anybody_ was going to attack Eden Prime. The two finished their Mexican styled cuisine and walked back to Hannah's officer quarters, full and satisfied.

Hannah had always wondered why John had opted out of living in her quarters. He could have had such a high standard of living for an Alliance brat, but chose to live in the quarters intended for other children. But then again, John had always hated preferential treatment… Once the two had entered her room, John's jovial look darkened slightly as he thought of how to break the news to his mother.

_She deserves this. She has had practically nothing to do with me in the past 15 years, so she has no reason to have an impact on my life now. If she wanted to care, she would have. I don't even owe her a talk about my life when she abandoned me!_ Fifteen years of suppressed feelings boiled over at this point. Fifteen years of neglect, sorrow, and loneliness drove John into continuing on his path. Not that he could change the outcome, but he knew his next statement would startle and potentially hurt his mother.

"Mother, tomorrow at 0400, I will be picked up by a shuttle. The shuttle will take me to Earth, where I will begin OET. I have already committed to the program, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise."

Hannah Shepard's heart froze. She shrank away from Jonathon, leaned against the wall, and slumped to the floor. Hannah thought of the last message that Andrew had sent her, and how she had utterly failed both him and her son. She hadn't even noticed that she had begun crying.

Jonathon looked at his mother, prostrated on the floor of her apartment, completely broken. He noticed that she cried silently, just as he had done the night before. _I guess she did teach me something after all._

Hannah finally managed to push herself up into a sitting position, looking up at her son. John's face appeared to be chiseled in stone. His eyes… they looked hardened and almost… indifferent. The staff lieutenant knew that she had been a poor mother, and understood how much she had hurt her son. But now, for the first time, she _understood_ what she had done. Wiping her eyes, Hannah got up and motioned for John to follow her to the right into her bedroom. She had to explain. He silently complied, wondering what his mother had planned, and whether he would care. As they entered the modest bedroom, John looked around and saw that nothing had changed since the two had originally unpacked on Arcturus Station. The same holo of dad sat in the same place on the same provided dresser, the same "I love me wall" consisting of his father's awards and other decorations hung directly across from the entrance of the bedroom, lest anyone forget his achievements (his mother's numerous decorations were stored unceremonially in one of the drawers of the dresser). The exact same cheap faux oak furniture sat exactly where it had been for the past year and a half, with only the same hideous green drapes and Andrew Shepard's awards and holo for company. It made John sick.

Hannah disappeared into her closet and John sat roughly down on the immaculately made bed, waiting for his mother to rejoin him. He heard the sound of shuffling cardboard boxes, and finally the noise of one opening. She walked back into the bedroom with an unlabeled and opened cardboard box. She sat it at the foot of the bed (to John's right), before removing an old datapad. She lovingly looked at the datapad, which was essentially an old tablet style device dedicated to a small amount of data storage-in this case 500TB.

"I am sorry, John. For not being there for you, even when I had the opportunity. I have the opportunity now, and I hope you will let me make the most of it." She handed the datapad to her son without another word.

John looked at the archaic datapad and gave it a once-over before finding an power toggle switch. _Why does she bother keeping this old piece of junk? Transfer the data to a newer holo-datapad._ He thumbed the button and had to wait a few seconds (_what?)_ for the storage device to fully power on in order to access the data. He immediately noticed that the device held thousands of files. He randomly selects an image file. John quickly did a double take as he looked at an image of his parent's wedding. He had never seen his mother look so happy. Continuing through the images, he saw himself the day he was born aside beaming parents, himself taking his first steps with his father holding his hands above his head, and himself at his first birthday party. Hannah let out a snort of laughter. In the image, John sits atop a table with a face full of chocolate icing. There is a face shaped section of icing missing from the cake. He smiled and looked over at her. _This is definitely worth holding onto._

"I don't remember that."

"You were one year old. I wouldn't expect you to. Here, let me show you the first time your father took you to a shooting range. You cried the entire time." Hannah looked at her son, happy to see him relaxed and enjoying himself. They spent the next five hours going through images and vid files. For the first time in years, John was content with everything in his life.

John and Hannah migrated to the more comfortable sofa in the living room area of her apartment during the conversation, bringing the box of memorabilia with them. Their conversation had made both parties oblivious to the fact that there is only one more item in the box. John pulled another datapad out of the box, and activated it. He notices that the pad has already accessed a file; a letter.

_My Lovely Wife, Hannah,_

_ I am sorry that I am spending another one of your birthdays away from you two. I would give anything to be able to settle down and see the little guy on a daily basis. I think that after this tour ends, I will go ahead and request to become a tech instructor back on Earth. We can keep our uniforms, but finally be able to live a life that can give John what he needs to grow up effectively. Maybe even talk more about what you wanted… I wouldn't mind giving him a little brother or sister if I am there to see them grow up... I don't want any children of mine going into the Navy. I __especially__ don't want them to go into the Marines. I think we can agree that the military is not the… best environment for those with other options (how are finances looking, by the way?). Also, if we ever want to be grandparents, it is best to discourage him from joining up in any fashion. It just isn't possible to be a good parent while actively serving in the Systems Alliance._

_With all of this new Prothean data, we will desperately need tech experts. Hopefully by the time John gets to be of age this whole Alliance militarization stage will have phased out and we will start focusing on building up colonies and furthering our technologies in ways that don't involve giving humans other ways to kill humans, or other things. We have activated so many of these relays… I am beginning to doubt that there is anything else out there. Ah well, we have only found one more relay to activate in this sector of space, so we are en route and will likely be there in two days. After that, the fleet will be heading back to Eden Prime, and you two. I will send you another message once we get done activating this relay. Just make sure John plays with his technical toys as much as possible. Looking forward to seeing you two; I should be back in 10 days._

_Love,_

_Andrew_

_RECEIVED: Time: 0002- Date: July 12, 2157-_

John looked at the message again. _He must have gone to activate the Relay the Turians were guarding. _He scanned through the message again_. Two days later… So dad died on mom's birthday?_ The thought hit him like he had been punched in the stomach. He had never realized that the first contact war had begun on her birthday. John looked over at his mom, and noticed that she was crying again.

"I failed him, John. I wasn't there for you like he would have been. I didn't help your education. I wasn't even here to try to convince you to not join the Systems Alliance military. Every single thing that he wanted for you in his last words, I didn't give you." John wrapped an arm around his mother's shaking shoulders. He finally understood fully. He couldn't hold this against her. He inspected the datapad further and noticed that this was the only file saved.

"Ma, don't worry about it. I wanted to join up anyways. I doubt you could have done anything to convince me otherwise." It made him feel like garbage to think that last night he wouldn't have cared if he saw his mother this way. "Let's go get some dinner. Wherever you want to go." Hannah sat quietly and looked at the clock. 1540. Her son had to leave at 0400. He would need to go to bed soon. She wiped her eyes and quickly stood up. John would need every second of sleep now if he was going to OET tomorrow. Calming herself, she nodded towards the door.

"I know just the place."

The place turned out to be the only steakhouse on Arcturus Station. It was not-so-creatively named Steakhouse. The next two hours blazed by, and Hannah was determined to relish every second she could with her son. All too quickly, the pair ended up back outside John's apartment door.

"If you wanted, you could spend the night at my place, John. I could sleep on the couch and make sure you were awake in the morning. Even cook you breakfast." John smiled and shook his head.

"I will be okay. Thank you though." He shuffled his feet and looked down, also bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "I would appreciate it if I could see you one last time though. Before I get shipped off to Earth."

"Of course, John. I will be here tomorrow morning at 0300, ready to see you off." He smiled and gave his mother a tight hug and held it for several long moments before breaking off. "I really appreciate it. I will see you then." With that, he scanned his omni-tool on his lock, and walked inside. John immediately heard the sound of MarioKart off to his right. Well, he thought as he corrected himself, he heard a string of curses from Chase and Jack, and a laugh from Pete. He stepped inside. John had quickly learned to associate cursing with MarioKart.

"Fucking blue shells are stupid as hell."

"Quit bitching. You should be used to it by now anyways."

"Blow me, Pete." John frowned at his suite mate's language. While he engaged in some lower caliber profanity, it seemed that a majority of the co-inhabitants' vocabulary was offensive in some way. He glanced back to where his mother was to see her conduct an about face and quickly walk off. Sighing, John stepped forward again and heard the door hiss close behind him.

"Hey fellas, I haven't seen you guys in a while. I am shipping out tomorrow bright and early. Been good rooming with you." He walked back to his room to hear his suite mates murmur something. John was highly introverted, and spent most of his time out in the station or in his room. No drinking with his suite, no cursing, no smoking; none of the stuff the other kids on-station did. He had a pretty good feeling that his suite mates didn't really like him, in addition to the other kids on the station that didn't really like him, and he didn't really care. At least they left him alone. That hadn't always been the case.

One dumb muscle-bound kid had decided to pick a fight with the younger and smaller John when he arrived on station. After graciously bowing out of the fight, John found himself constantly under attack by the sneering other boys on Arcturus station. It finally escalated to the point where he hacked the most annoying jock's omni-tool so that it would give him a painful shock whenever being within 50 feet of John's omni-tool. John had also taken the liberty to walk past the jackass' apartment several times a day. After a week and a half, the guy removed his omni-tool, deciding to teach the smaller geeky kid a lesson. Upon confronting John, the jock took a swing at him. John simply ducked the wild punch, grabbed the assailant's fist, kept the arm extended straight, and struck the back of his opponent's elbow, resulting in a loud crack and a terribly fractured elbow joint. The other kids left him alone after that.

John neatly took off his suit and hung it back up on its proper hanger before grabbing his towel for the last shower he would take in this suite. _Thank god. _Twenty minutes later he sat on his bed, noticing that 0300 Arcturus time using the Citadel time method was 0300 in Earth time as well. He set his alarm for 0200 and quickly faded off to sleep.

The buzzing coming from his omni-tool jolted him awake, and was quickly joined by the annoying beeps of his alarm clock. John jabbed at his omni-tool and managed to stumble over to his clock in order to turn both off before sitting on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He shook the tired feeling off, and quickly went to the bathroom to shave. Pulling on a set of nondescript khaki shorts and a navy blue collared shirt, he emptied the dresser of his (already folded) clothes and quickly packed them into his first suitcase. The hanging shirts were folded in half on their hangers and went into a separate suitcase. John quickly pulled the sheets off of his bed and stuffed them and his pillow inside a small duffel bag. Sliding on his shoes, he checked the clock to see 0256. Grabbing a suitcase in each hand, he walked out of his room and suite for the last time, and into the hallway. His mother was standing on the opposite side of the wall, waiting for him.


End file.
